How To Organize a Community Service Day

a group of people standing on top of a sandy beach

Every corner of the globe these days has become more environmental-minded. Neighborhoods have a recycling bin at each home and residents are asked to sort their garbage accordingly. Cities have annual aluminum, electronics, and paper recycling drives at various city locations. Many schools have started gardens to teach our kids how to grow their own foods and plants that help other things thrive, such as bees.

But there is always something else that somebody could do for their community. The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church groups, and parolees, are always looking for a service day that benefits the community. They earn badges, commendations, or serve required time for an offense. And those groups alone can take care of find the people to participate, but how do you organize a service day event? Here are 5 steps that we believe will get you off on the right foot:

  1. The Concept: You’ll need to have a concept and if you’ll look around your own neighborhood or around your city, you’ll find where there are needs. Maybe a day of picking up trash in the parks, a day spent repairing playground equipment, or starting a community garden? If your city doesn’t have one, get a recycling drive started for aluminum cans, electronics, and paper.
  2. A Force of Many: If you know of an existing group, such as a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, or your own church’s youth group, get them involved in your efforts. They can help promote the even and provide a lot of manpower to help you get it done. If there are sizeable companies in your area, check with the HR department if they would be interested in sponsoring and participating.
  3. Plan It Meticulously: You’ll need to determine a committee that can think through the concept and plan the event. There are a lot of small pieces to a puzzle like this and you want to make sure you have all your I’s dotted and T’s crossed. Some of the various aspects you’ll need somebody in charge of is coordinating the volunteers, setting them up in shifts, you’ll need a setup crew and a cleanup crew. You should have a group that promotes the event too.
  4. Getting the Word Out: Thanks to social media, getting the word out is easy and fast today. From Facebook to Twitter, you’ll contact a lot of people with just a few keystrokes. But don’t forget to do the print ads and flyers too – not everyone is computer oriented and on social media.
  5. Repeat: If your event goes off with success, no matter how small, keep that momentum going and plan it again for next year. Use any email addresses you collected, Facebook connections and followers, and keep in touch all year long. If you’re invited to another similar event, be courteous and attend or donate. 

In Closing 

As you have those planning days/evenings, make them fun too!  Have refreshments and games to keep the planning fun. Games like horseshoes and Rollors are perfect for these times. The committee may use them to determine the winner gets their pick of tasks to be done!  And you can always have an auction, with one of the prizes being Rollors!

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